Rises

I saw The Dark Knight Rises this past weekend.  I'm a fan of Nolan's work, I enjoyed the first two Batman movies in the series.  I also enjoyed Inception. 

But I found that it was difficult for me to enjoy the movie.  For most of the movie, I was acutely aware that I was watching a film marred by tragedy.  It was difficult to ignore the violence as fantasy. 

I admit, it was all me - all in my head.  There was no reason to feel any more unsafe than when I saw Kill Bill Vol. 2 (a great movie, btw). 

So aside from not being able to fully enjoy the film, it was good. I liked it.  I thought it was a good finale to the series.  Some of the twists in the plot I didn't see coming.  I agree Anne Hathaway did a good job as Catwoman, even if she was a MPDG (Manic Pixie Dream Girl) of sorts. 

I don't see why I should change my behavior because of a lone insane act.  I'm glad that other people haven't changed their behavior, the theater was full.  Most of my friends who were going to see the film have seen it.  Still, I can't help thinking about the culture of violence, and our culture of mental illness.

The appearing and disappearing video store

While running errands yesterday, I drove past a former video store.  The past year or so, the business had just been hanging on.  When we would (rarely) go in to rent videos, there were only a handful of people there.  So, I'm not surprised that the store was shuttered.

What I do find interesting is that so many of these stores appeared and now have disappeared.  I remember when they seemed to spring up everywhere. My own family got a VCR back in the mid-eighties.  I realized that of the five video stores in my area in the past ten years, only one is currently open.

There was a time when video stores seemed to be popping up everywhere, in many strip malls.  Going to the video store to rent movies was an activity.  I remember walking through the aisles with many different people.  There was always a discussion about what to see, what movies a person felt like seeing that night, what someone had seen or hadn't seen.  Depending on the person, this process might take some time.

I'm trying to think of movie scenes where a person is renting videos or in the video store.  I'm fairly certain there are quite a few.  The two I can think of are Orgazmo and Jersey Girl - both are off color scenes/films.

With the advent of movie home delivery services, through-the- mail game delivery and order-in cable - the video stores are vanishing.  My library also rents dvds, and from my understanding, it's the biggest circulation that they have. 

I suppose it makes me a bit wistful.  Before the dot-com bubble burst, and people discussed the new economy - I didn't think (necessarily) video stores would be a casualty.  For so long, ordering or watching videos on one's pc was clunky, choppy and the technology was dicey (at best).  But technology has caught up - and things are disappearing.  While there is still some demand for video stores and game rental - it's just not what it was. And all those small businesses (and franchises) disappear.

It's interesting to think about what else might disappear.  I've talked about technology before...Gas stations on every corner, that's probably going to disappear at some point. Particularly with more fuel efficient cars.  But the other functions that gas stations have probably won't disappear, the mini-mart soda and candy shop part.  Post offices and bank branches may disappear or shrink as well.

My theory is that what people can do online, eventually they will.  It's not that there won't be post offices, because they still have a function.  Just like video stores.  And not everyone has access to the internet (or cable), so some video stores will still have a market. Just not as large of a market as they once had. 

Far From Heaven

Last week, I finally saw this movie, Far From Heaven.  It was included as Andrew O'Hehir's top ten best of the Aughts - up there with Pan's Labyrinth.  I agree that Julianne Moore's performance was stunning - I haven't seen all her other work.  It is hard to believe that she is the same actress who plays Jack Donaghy's heavy Boston accented school crush.

It really is a beautiful movie, the colors are vibrant.The costumes are great, as well as the set design. All in all, it was a good film.  I think it consciously played off the stereotypical woman in the late 1950s plot.  Or, woman trapped by society plot (haven't we seen this with Anna Karenina?).  Actually, it did remind me quite a bit of Anna Karenina - without the Levin character.

Part of the film is the realization that the main character (Kathy's) husband is gay - they appear to have the perfect home and life. But in reality, they do not.  He's never home and always unhappy.  At one point, Frank (played by Dennis Quaid) even goes to a psychiatrist to try and "cure" him of being gay.  Homosexuality was thought (back then) of as a disease (until 1973).  

Throughout the movie there is a heavy handed idea that this was life then, and things are different now.

What's interesting for me, and why I bring this up is that I didn't realize that the LDS church (that I was raised in) was still encouraging gay men to marry women.  Well, I think it has backed off on that stance a bit - although I'm not sure if that is official or not. But this is the situation that many couples find themselves in, not fifty years ago - but in the past decade.  And as the MSP post I linked to above brings up - is that fair to either person in the couple?  Is that fair to the wife? 

There is a painful scene in the film where the husband describes to his wife that he has fallen in love.  He says "I didn't know what it was like"...and she looks like she's been slapped in the face.  Because all along, she loved him, she tried to do everything possible to be happy.  And not a month earlier, he had been so angry that she had been seen talking with a man of color (which was a scandal for the entire town). 

One of the conflicts in the movie was the assumption that he could change - just because he wanted to. 

It was a sad movie.  And one worth seeing - if only to realize some of where we have come from, and where we are.  I don't know if it makes my list of top ten films from the last decade, but it was definitely worth seeing. 

Frost/Nixon

Former President Richard Nixon is not really a controversial figure - as he's universally criticized. The criticism comes from both the left and the right. What seems to be more rare is someone who sees him as a flawed or tragic figure.

I recently watched Frost/Nixon. I had remembered my parents' opinions about Nixon, and other observations I heard over the years from various adults, teachers, community leaders.

What shocked and surprised me (after watching the film) was President Nixon's arrogance. And his defense of his behavior reminded me of the past royal "divine right of kings". So it's no wonder that a country built on opposition to monarchy would react so strongly to such behavior from its president.

Nixon's defense was that the president should be able to do anything - because they were the president. A turning point in the interview was when confronted with newsreels and the damage done in Cambodia - Pres. Nixon asserted "We should have gone into Cambodia earlier!" He wouldn't/couldn't admit that his decision was a mistake - or that it may have led to the regime of Pol Pot (a horrible dictator/totalitarian regime).

So I believe it's always interesting to hear a person's defense of their own wrongdoing.

I appreciated the movie because I thought I knew a lot about the controversy, I thought I knew of the events surrounding Watergate. I had read "All the President's Men", and I thought I knew most of the characters. I think I forgot just how angry and disappointed so many Americans were in the cover-up of Watergate, and how self-righteous Nixon could be. That he would claim to be a victim instead of admitting fault.



What struck me after watching the film was the reminder that in every situation, particularly political situations, people will argue for and against. What remains important (even critical) is to weigh the information and evaluate what we know in terms of facts. And being willing to change our minds about what we hear - when there is new evidence either way.

I did appreciate at one point in the interview (I'm assuming this happened in the actual interviews), he (Nixon) admitted that his actions might have hurt the American people and damaged their faith in their government.

Also, no matter what a person's crimes, to remember them with compassion - or at least as much compassion as we can muster.

It's not that we have to approve of what they did or forget what happened. But to remember that each human deserves some modicum of respect.

And just as one of the researchers (who had written two books scathingly critical of Pres. Nixon) was in a situation where he had to shake Nixon's hand - sometimes we are caught in a web of social standards and niceties. Sometimes we are not in control - just as a leader is not completely in control. It's a fact we/people tend to forget - it's nice to blame an individual for everything that happens - but that's not always the whole story.

It's strange to have some sympathy for Nixon, but after watching the film, I find I do have some sympathy for him. Perhaps that shows the genius of the play and the movie - and why it garnered so many Academy award nods.

Watchmen

A movie that has stuck with me over the months has been "The Watchmen". As someone who has seen quite a few comic book movies over the years (think the X-Men and Spiderman franchises, even Sin City) - I wasn't really prepared for this movie.

Because, instead of following the typical hero cycle - a person is left to wonder who the heroes really are. The main characters do not appear to be - and rarely seem to help people.

And that at times, people tend to do more harm by interfering (causing a premature end to the Viet Nam conflict). Would we be where we are if that had happened?

The plot questions a person's goals - and whether or not it is sometimes better to fail than get what you want (world peace, for example).

(Just as an aside for my readers/friends who are disturbed by such things, there is definitely explicit violence and sex, including an attempted rape. Also, if you weren't aware, one of the main characters is naked for a third of the film. Most of the critics seemed to focus on the male character's nudity - instead of the film itself, which was unfortunate. I wonder what's so threatening about a male nude? There are plenty of female nudes in film).

All in all - I'm glad I saw it, and that I saw it in the theater.

PS. To my mind, it probably didn't hurt that they used a Leonard Cohen song in the soundtrack. Although that song (Hallelujah) is almost becoming a cliche - I'm not sure that was where it originally meant to be.

Milk

I woke up this morning to the power flickering on and off. Funny how you forget to appreciate the small things until they're no longer there.

Fortunately, we (somehow) have an electrician on call, and the power company reconnected our power lines. Which is how I can sit here blogging at the moment.

I just watched the film "Milk", which won numerous academy awards last year. Almost all of my readers have probably already seen this film, but my movie-going free time has been greatly reduced since having children. It's not that I never have time to see movies, but often I see them six months or a year after they are released. It's just the way it is right now.

So much that I agree with has already been said in various places on the interwebs.

I just find the struggle for respect and human rights inspiring. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, to speak your truth. It takes courage to be yourself. It was an inspiring film, one that I won't soon forget.